This reader explores the extent of Oriental influence on European thought, primarily in the period of the Enlightenment and the 19th-century period of doubt and scepticism that followed it. It gathers a series of specific historical and textual studies of Oriental influence upon European thinkers.

The influence of East on West - of Eastern ideas on Western thought - has become an increasingly vexed issue since the 1970s. Opinion is divided between two main schools: those who believe that Oriential ideas have exercised a considerable influence on Western thought, and those who, for a variety of reasons, believe that such influence has remained negligable. In this reader, A.L. Macfie sugests that the reality lies somewhere between these two extremes, and that the interest taken by Western thinkers in Eastern thought in the modern period has moved from one of passing interest, through serious attention, to some level of assimiliation and acceptance. "Eastern Influences on Western Philosophy" explores the extent of Oriential influence on European thought, primarily during the Enlightenment and the 19th-century period of doubt and scepticism that followed it. As such it brings together a series of specific historical and textual studies of Oriental influence upon European thinkers. Starting with Malebranche and ending with Heidegger, other Western thinkers considered include: Leibniz; Voltaire; Hume; Hegel; Schopehnauer; Emerson; Thoreau; Nietzsche; Jung; and Buber.

Malebranche and Chinese philosophy, David E. Mungello
the pre-established harmony between Leibniz and Chinese thought, Daniel J. Cook and Henry Rosement
the sinophilism of Christian Wolff (1679-1754), Donald L. Lach
Voltaire, Basil Guy
the possibility of Oriental influence in Hume's philosophy, Nolan Pliny Jacobson
Herder, Ronal Taylor
Hegel, Wilhelm Halbfass
Schelling and Schopehnauer, Wilhelm Halbfass
the influences of Eastern thought in Schopenhauer's doctrine of the thing-in-itself, Moira Nicholls
Emerson and Indian philosophy, Dale Riepe
Thoreau's India - the impact of reading in a crisis, David H. Albert
Thoreau's Hindu quotations in a week, Ellen Rhagavan and Barry Wood
Nietzche's trans-European eye, Mervyn Sprung
Nietzsche and the Laws of Manu, Thomas H. Brobjer
Taoism and Jung - synchronicity and the self, Harold Coward
Martin Buber and Taoism, Irene Eber
Heidegger's hidden sources - East Asian influences on his work, Reinhard May.